Mariba Fork

Directions to Mariba Fork

From the parking lot of the Junior Williamson Rest Area in Slade, turn left (north) on KY 11, drive 0.1 miles under the Mountain Parkway overpass to a "T" intersection with KY 15. Turn left (east) and continue for 1.5 miles, then turn right (north) on KY 77. This highway is also known as "Nada Tunnel Road", and you may see a street sign so designated at this intersection. Drive 4.4 miles through the tiny town of Nada, through the tunnel, and over the steel bridge (stay right after you cross the steel bridge) to the intersection with KY 715. Stay to the left on KY 77 (KY 715 curves to the right) towards Fortress Wall and Phantasia. Stay on KY 77 for about 8 miles until you see Flecher Ridge road on your right. The road angles sharply back to the right. Turn right on this road and drive for about 1.3 miles. Look for Forest Service signs on your left. Shortly after you see the Forest Service signs on your left, look for a field directly after the wooded section ends. Park on your left and hike along the field keeping the wooded section on your left. You will be following an old barbed wire fence. After about 10 minutes the field will meet up with a wooded area. Continue on a trail through the woods, angling slightly left, until you reach the cliff's edge. Head left and look for an obvious dark and narrow corridor heading down to the base of the cliff. Continue down through the corridor and hike down to a creek. Cross the creek and head uphill to the base of the wall which the routes listed in this guide are on. You should come out of the rhodos somewhere near Laceration.

Wall Sun: Unknown

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There is a good reason for these GPS coordinates. It is a bit of a hunt to find.
The entrance is cool. But make damn sure you get a fix on how you are getting out, or you will spend a lot of time rhodo thrashing with a full pack of gear and rope uphill trying to find your way back. Needs dry weather.

i don't understand how everyone's getting lost. i have very little directional sense and it was not hard to locate at all. guide book directions were perfect.
it was definately the most BEAUTIFUL hike i've been on yet. made me feel like i was a wondering hobbit. it had rained for several days before and most of the routes were wet. make sure to go there at a dry time. if you're bored on a rest day, this would be a beautiful place just to hike around and explore

I need to know if we were in the right area. After following the guide book directions which seemed relatively easy we came out of the rhodos at two bolted lines on a less than vertical face. to the right of the bolted lines there was a nice looking dihederal crack with what looked like a bolted anchor/fixed gear at the top near a ledge. We were a little confused and started to think we were in the wrong area b/c there shouldn't be any sport routes there....???? A little confused, please help!!

Has the crack system/dihedral between the direct start for The Beach and The Mayor been climbed before? My buddy and I did it this past weekend and found no anchors under the large over-hang about 80'-90' up? It's about 5.8 and a quality climb. There is now fixed pro under the large over-hang to descend from.

The directions in the guidebook are good, although I suspect the old barbed wire fence it describes has been replaced by a new fence right at the edge of the forest. At any rate, plan to bushwhack a bit if you're not the trespassing type.

It does stay pretty shaded. Be warned: I went out there a couple weeks ago and got a bunch of chigger bites from walking through the field, very unpleasant. The trail is a little tricky to find and refind after going around a fallen tree on the trail

as of now. (May 2011)The trail right after the field is totally blocked by fallen trees, be prepared to walk around, or climb over. Another option is to walk straight past the trees and rappel into the valley, but only do this if you know the area. next time i go i will leave some webbing and rings on a nice tree.

I talked to the man who owns the field you hike through on the approach. He's fine with people walking through his field, but he asks that people please stop rolling down the barb wire for the fence to get in, because then his horses get out and he has to go get them.

If you go around the fallen trees to the right, you are most likely to encounter the cliffline farther to the right than previously. If you do this, then the first dark and narrow corridor you will encounter while heading to the left is not the way down. It cliffs out 40-50 feet above the ground and is dangerous.

Finding the crag is not so hard, but finding routes other than Laceration, Reach the Beach, The Mayor, Synergy and Leo will be full on adventure, and it looks like climbing them will more than likely give you a ground-up experience. Also, be prepared as there's a bit of distance between routes, this ain't no sport crag...

Trail through the notch, across the creek, and up to the crag is in good contition once you find it. There is currently a fairly high barbed wire fence blocking your way at the end of the field. You can easily step over it if you're tall enough, or go around it by the red-blazed tree about 50' before the field ends on your left.

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Route details are copyright Ray Ellington, John Bronaugh, and other Red River Gorge climbers. Climbing is an inherently dangerous sport. The information in this guidebook is subject to error and should supplement never replace common sense and caution, competent guidance and instruction, and actually being outside. One should be especially cautious on matters of route length, descent type, and number of bolts (especially since such things do change occasionally).